Buyback Scorecard
Stock Buyback
ROI Edges into the Black, Barely
Best & Worst Companies
Industry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 305 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent or more than $1 billion of their shares from June 30, 2014 to June 30, 2016. The companies are ranked according to their return on investment from these repurchases. As calculated by Fortuna Advisors, a New York City-based consultancy that compiled the data for Institutional Investor, buyback ROI measures the overall rate of return of buybacks, based on the internal rate of return of the cash flows associated with them. Buyback strategy tracks the performance of the underlying stock in terms of annualized total shareholder return. Once Fortuna determines buyback ROI and buyback strategy, buyback effectiveness can then be calculated as simply the difference between the two, determined as compounded return.

 
How the S&P 500 Stack Up
as Stock Repurchasers
1—50 | 51—100 | 101—150 | 151—200 | 201—250 | 251—300 | 301—305
  Company Industry Market
Capitalization 		$ Total
Buyback 		$ Total
Buyback
/ Market Cap 		Buyback
Strategy 		Buyback
Effectiveness 		Buyback ROI
  Average   $45,780 $3,582 10.6% 5.1% -3.3% 1.7%
  Median   $20,113 $1,700 7.7% 5.4% -2.2% 1.8%
151 Amgen Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 114,298 3,223 2.8 18.3 -13.6 2.2
152 Brown-Forman Corp. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 20,348 1,758 8.6 4.2 -2.3 1.9
153 Oracle Corp. Software and Services 168,743 18,630 11.0 -0.1 2.0 1.8
154 Merck & Co. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 159,466 10,049 6.3 2.0 -0.2 1.7
155 United Technologies Corp. Capital Goods 85,821 10,441 12.2 -4.5 6.5 1.6
156 Exxon Mobil Corp. Energy 388,703 11,086 2.9 -3.3 5.0 1.5
157 The Hershey Co. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 24,216 1,176 4.9 0.0 1.4 1.4
158 Cummins Capital Goods 19,065 1,835 9.6 -11.0 13.8 1.3
159 The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Diversified Financials 41,845 4,304 10.3 9.1 -7.4 1.0
160 T. Rowe Price Group Diversified Financials 18,111 1,590 8.8 -0.8 1.7 1.0
161 Moody's Corp. Diversified Financials 18,208 2,448 13.4 9.8 -8.4 0.6
162 Alphabet Software and Services 479,090 5,473 1.1 15.0 -12.6 0.5
163 CenturyLink Telecommunication Services 15,841 992 6.3 -3.8 4.3 0.3
164 U.S. Bancorp Banks 69,626 4,606 6.6 2.2 -2.1 0.0
165 Carnival Corp. Consumer Services 32,929 1,934 5.9 15.3 -13.3 0.0
166 Juniper Networks Technology Hardware and Equipment 8,635 2,719 31.5 -1.8 1.8 -0.1
167 AbbVie Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 104,016 12,079 11.6 11.5 -10.7 -0.5
168 Sealed Air Corp. Materials 9,063 928 10.2 21.7 -18.2 -0.5
169 The Walt Disney Co. Media 158,707 13,443 8.5 12.0 -11.4 -0.7
170 Tesoro Corp. Energy 8,989 744 8.3 22.3 -18.9 -0.8
171 Varian Medical Systems Healthcare Equipment and Services 7,829 1,007 12.9 0.5 -1.3 -0.9
172 The Boeing Co. Capital Goods 82,729 14,255 17.2 2.6 -3.4 -0.9
173 Textron Capital Goods 9,828 624 6.3 -1.2 0.3 -1.0
174 Emerson Electric Co. Capital Goods 33,557 3,321 9.9 -8.1 7.6 -1.1
175 EMC Corp. Technology Hardware and Equipment 53,108 4,038 7.6 2.9 -3.9 -1.1
176 Patterson Cos. Healthcare Equipment and Services 4,626 230 5.0 8.8 -9.2 -1.1
177 eBay Software and Services 26,896 4,840 18.0 5.2 -6.3 -1.4
178 Intel Corp. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 154,882 13,634 8.8 10.2 -10.6 -1.5
179 Valero Energy Corp. Energy 23,960 4,344 18.1 4.1 -5.5 -1.6
180 Parker-Hannifin Corp. Capital Goods 14,552 1,956 13.4 -3.1 1.5 -1.6
181 Target Corp. Retailing 41,143 5,690 13.8 16.1 -15.5 -1.9
182 Deere & Co. Capital Goods 25,468 4,076 16.0 -2.8 0.9 -1.9
183 TE Connectivity Technology Hardware and Equipment 20,423 3,806 18.6 2.3 -4.3 -2.1
184 Time Warner Media 57,831 6,441 11.1 8.1 -9.5 -2.2
185 Royal Caribbean Cruises Consumer Services 14,453 686 4.7 21.2 -19.5 -2.4
186 The PNC Financial Services Group Banks 40,640 4,091 10.1 2.6 -4.9 -2.4
187 XL Group Insurance 9,482 1,604 16.9 5.2 -7.4 -2.5
188 American International Group Insurance 59,185 19,992 33.8 3.5 -6.0 -2.7
189 Regions Financial Corp. Banks 10,780 1,225 11.4 -4.6 1.9 -2.8
190 General Motors Co. Automobiles and Components 43,941 7,097 16.2 -2.9 0.0 -2.8
191 Comerica Banks 7,203 473 6.6 -4.8 2.0 -3.0
192 The Kroger Co. Food and Staples Retailing 34,913 1,792 5.1 25.8 -22.9 -3.0
193 Praxair Materials 32,061 1,224 3.8 -4.7 1.8 -3.0
194 Discover Financial Services Diversified Financials 22,091 3,585 16.2 -1.6 -1.6 -3.2
195 Prudential Financial Insurance 31,532 3,016 9.6 -2.4 -1.0 -3.3
196 Tyco International Commercial and Professional Services 18,126 1,444 8.0 -1.6 -1.8 -3.3
197 Foot Locker Retailing 7,423 676 9.1 11.9 -14.1 -3.9
198 Schlumberger Energy 109,954 3,264 3.0 -11.8 8.8 -4.0
199 Delta Air Lines Transportation 28,018 4,751 17.0 7.2 -10.7 -4.2
200 Delphi Automotive Automobiles and Components 17,088 2,260 13.2 2.9 -7.1 -4.4
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database.

Financial Data from June 2014 to June 2016. Includes the 487 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period.

Market Capitalization as of: 6/30/2016.

Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.